Following actress Ruth Kadiri’s outburst on not being given an award by Mo Abudu during the recently held award ceremony for hardworking women in Nollywood, colleague Toyin Abraham has now spoken.
Kemi Filani reports that the Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture, in partnership with EbonyLife Place and Nigerian International Film Summit (NIFS), recognized creative people in films, rewarding talented filmmakers and actresses.
Amongst filmmakers that was awarded, movie producer, Ruth Kadiri was missing which prompted her to to air her grievances.
Taking to her social media to air her displeasure, Ruth Kadiri wrote;
‘I am a filmmaker. I am a woman. I am a hard working woman. I have faced the struggles every woman/filmmaker has faced. Did my name at any point pop up yes, but because i do not belong to a click? Yet again, i have been over looked will not be pressured. I will keep working hard. @lagosstategovt @moabudu @ijayonah @nifsummit thanks for overlooking me and congrats to everyone who got recognized.’
Ruth Kadiri is not the first celebrity complaining of bad friends and cliques in Nollywood.
Reacting moments ago via Instagram, Toyin Abraham wrote thus:
“You complain that friends are bad and so you don’t want to have friends. I complain that friends are bad and so, I’d rather do without them. But honestly, who are these bad friends that make us all want to do away with friendships if not us all? Ṣé ẹ fẹ́ gbọ́ òótọ́, most of the time we are the bad friends we all complain about. All of us are guilty in one way or other. We’ve been a bad friend to somebody at one point or the other. So, if we avoid, cancel or run away from everyone who has offended us at one point or the other, what do we do with ourselves?
I think it is easier to point out other people’s flaws than it is to accept that we are all flawed humans in some way. And so, when we expect perfection from one another, we ruin the beauty of friendships. Because ẹ wò ó, ká má parọ́, we all have our good and bad sides and it is never realistic to think that we can experience people without their flaws.
So, rather than avoiding one another, rubbishing one another, exposing our weaknesses and publicizing our offences, hoping it would create the balance and stability we desire in our friendships and shield us from being hurt by “people”, let us hold one another with grace and compassion instead. It is only then that it becomes possible to lovingly hold one another accountable and help each other grow into our best selves! Igi kan kò lè dá igbó ṣe, ká fi ọwọ́ w’ẹwọ́ ni ọwọ́ fí ń mọ́.